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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

I haven’t met a single Filipino that doesn’t believe in
global warming. I haven’t met a single Filipino that doesn’t believe that human
activity is directly responsible for aspects of this climate change. This is
not a phenomenon limited to highly educated areas of the Philippines where
folks have an intellectual grasp on the concept. In fact, this knowledge is
most prominent in rural, agricultural communities.

How can it be that such communities have a handle on this
difficult concept while so many of my highly educated countrymen are still
struggling to embrace its reality? The answer is simple. Here is where you find
the people whose lands and lives are being directly and adversely affected by
environmental changes. While in the states, it is quite possible to remain
insulated from the consequences of our actions and lifestyles. These farmers
know their land intimately and can chronicle its changes, sometimes over generations. They will be the first to detail the negative effects of
environmental changes on their lands and their lives.

This knowledge and hardship is prominently absent from the
Western narrative. Winters are a little colder than when we were kids? No
problem, just bump up the thermostat. Less rain in rural areas, no problem, just
buy your produce from massive grocery chains. Hit by increasing natural
disaster? No problem, there’s insurance and government programs for that.

Take a moment to consider the same, seemingly small
inconveniences on the lives of agricultural people. The difference of a few
degrees can have a larger impact on the yield of crops. This has a direct
affect on a person’s ability to feed themselves and their families. Less water
than before? Many people don’t have access to community
water systems and rely on natural water sources. These sources are far more
sensitive to the difference of a couple inches per year. In one community here
in Kalinga, the lack of rain reduced the water table to a record low. It was so
low that the recently installed pump system was unable to function and the whole community
lost access to running, potable water in their homes. Once again, it is the
economically unprivileged people who are forced to carry the burden of the
world’s rapid development while enjoying far fewer of the benefits.

One social progression, that I will not go so far as to
label a benefit, for Filipino agriculture is a rapidly growing interest in, and
government support of, natural farming systems.

Let’s begin by taking a look at one simple practice,
vermicomposting. Vermi refers to worms, in this particular case to African
Night Crawlers. When these worms consume animal and plant waste, they release
larger amounts of Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus into the soil. In case,
you don’t know, these are naturally occurring in soil and are key nutrients to
plant life. Chemically manufactured versions of these compounds are ingredients
in most major fertilizers. Vermicompost, unlike commercial fertilizer, breaks
down these elements so that plants can actually metabolize them. This means a
smaller amount is more effective and since it isn’t just dumping massive
amounts, you avoid nasty fallout such as Nitrogen burn. The worms also excrete
mucus that prevents these beneficial elements in the soil from being washed
away during irrigation or rainfall. This means that the healthy elements of the
soil before fertilization won’t be lost either. Further, since vermicomposting
is done with a combination of animal dung and plant matter, the mixture is rich
in indigenous microorganisms that make the soil fertile. These organisms are
killed by the application of commercial fertilizer. This leaves soil that can’t
feed plant. This means commercial fertilizers must be applied every cropping to
feed the plants. The idea behind vermicomposting is to feed the soil and let
the soil feed the plant.

The E-CARE Foundation in EDNL is currently establishing a
commercial scale vermicomposting business in Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Cagayan. As
vermicomposting requires additional work, the hope is to provide easy access to
organic fertilizers to encourage natural farming practices. This is the next
step after several years of advocating the production of vermicompost at the
household level.

The compost’s
benefit is well demonstrated in conjunction with S.R.I (systems of rice
intensification) a natural farming practice for the growing of the Philippine’s
staple crop. The people of Gonzaga are currently engaged in corn farming. This
requires an incredibly high input of expensive chemical fertilizers. E-Care is
partnering with community members to encourage organic corn farming using
vermicompost. This corn could then be turned into organic hog feed and drive
the production of organic meat in the area.

These experiments in natural farming systems
are commendable and require a good deal of risk for the farmer. There are many
factors in crop yield and the right balance may take many croppings to
discover. In addition, in areas of high chemical fertilizer use, it can take several
croppings for the soil to recover. These factors have an immediate and
unmitigated impact on the farmer. In spite of this, many farmers have seen the
trend of negative environmental impact and are willing to take the short-term
risk for the long-term benefits. Is it fair that they should carry this burden?
Perhaps not, but I for one am extremely grateful for the hard work and
conviction of all organic farmers. But a special “Thanks” goes out to all
Filipino organic practitioners who are taking real risks without promise of
immediate payoff so that current and future generations can benefit from their
knowledge, experience, and positive environmental impact.

National Office staff inspect Santa Clara vermi bins made from concrete blocks and shaded by palm fronds. On top are Banana trunks for food.

Men chopping Banana trunks to feed the vermi to increase potassium content. The worms are fed manure and greens for three weeks to a month and then the compost can be harvested.

Carabao in a partner community. These guys provide manure for the vermi bins. Manure from grass eating animals such as carabao, cows, and goats yield the best results though chicken and pig are also common.

Cows at Santa Clara vermi site. E-Care hopes to promote cattle raising as a livelihood project in the area to provide income and manure for the vermi bins.

Inspecting possible sites for household vermi bins. Bins must be shaded to prevent worms from overheating and concreted on the bottom to prevent worms burrowing and escaping the bin in search of food.

Worms hatch every three weeks and are harvested and sold to prevent overpopulation of bins and create additional income at around 20 USD per kilo. Pictured above is around 6 kilos.

Vermi cooler keeps the worms at the proper temperature and reduces shock when traveling.

In large scale operations, the finished compost is passed through screens to separate worms that are then returned to the bins. The same process is done by hand in smaller operations.

E-Care staff's S.R.I. organic rice farm in Isabela that uses vermicomposting. This field is on it's third cropping as an organic farm.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Monday: Around 9 on Monday morning my co-worker and I set
off from the office in Tabuk. This time around, the development vehicle was in
use elsewhere so we had to take the motorcycle. We traveled for about three
hours, with regular stops to regain feeling in our hinnies. We parked out motor
and took a twenty-minute walk up to the town plaza of Ag-Agama, Uma, Kalinga.
Every town in the Philippines has an annual fiesta. In the smaller villages,
the entire town gets together and contributes food for a communal meal. This is
followed by a day of chatting, sports tournaments with surrounding villages,
dancing, and of course, more eating. After taking our fill and chatting with
the priests, we headed to sleep at the rectory.

People watching the Fiesta activities in front of St. Peter's Church in Ag-Agama, Uma, Kalinga

The winning basketball team celebrates their victory by playing gongs and dancing.

An insistent child refuses to surrender his position playing with the gongs.

Tuesday: We woke up bright and early to have breakfast with
our host family. We then headed down to mountain to where our motor was parked
only to discover we had left the key on the porch and the thoughtful house
owners had put it inside. Unfortunately, they were not at home. So, we hitched a
ride with a construction vehicle. We then hiked for over an hour up a very
steep mountain to reach the community of Duya-as. Luckily the path had been
concreted, but there were still over 800 steps. Here we had a meeting with a
blacksmith organization that is partnering with E-CARE to mechanize their
operation. They currently make bolos (similar to a machete) at a rate of one
every three days. The mechanization will allow them to make two per day. We
then took time to relax for the sacred order of siesta. When we awoke, we
discovered that Padi had spilled the beans about my birthday being the next
day, and the community decided to celebrate by butchering and roasting a wild
boar. Full and jolly we walked back down the mountain and, unable to hitch a
ride, walked back to Ag-Agama where we promptly passed out.

View of the mountains from the trail to Duya-as. We started in the valley and are about 1/3 of the way up.

Rice terraces and a sitio of Duya-As.

Woman harvesting her rice.

Harvested rice bundled and left to dry in the sun.

Rice and beans drying in the front yard of a house where we stopped for coffee.

Padi Gatan explains the manual operation of the blacksmith workshop and the improvements they hope to make.

When the community members discovered it was my birthday, they butchered a wild boar for our supper.

The wonderful folks of Duya-As pose for a picture after the celebration.

Wednesday: On Wednesday we
slept in a tad and set off along the unpaved road towards Colayo. After two
hours and two stops for coffee with friends, we reached Bihog. Here we met up
with Padi John. After lunch came the afternoon rains so we napped and waited
them out. We then proceeded along the narrow road, open only to motorcycles.
Along the way we had to clear two rock slides and pass over a rather deep
creek. There was a fair bit of getting off and walking the motorcycles. Finally
we arrived at the end of the road where we parked the bikes and continued on
foot. We walked down into the river valley, crossed two suspension bridges,
went back up the canyon, and arrived after dark. We were greeted by the 70 or
so year old retired village catechist and settled in for the evening.

Clearing the rock slide so the motorcycles can pass through on the road to Colayo, Pasil, Kalinga.

Thursday: We rose early once again and had fried fish for
breakfast at a church member’s house. We made our way up to the elementary
school. The students seemed quite distracted by the events. As the two teachers
in the community are church members, and the appearance of the priest in their
community is rare, classes were cancelled for the day. Mass was held in the
elementary school classroom. After this, we conducted a program orientation and
discussed the formation of a co-operative savings group, potential livelihood
projects and the management of the mechanized rice mill. The meeting, as
always, ran late. The rain moved in around five and the power cut out leaving
us with a late dinner in the dark after a satisfying day of meetings.

Padi John conducts his monthly mass in the school building the congregation uses in lieu of a church building.

Going through the E-CARE program orientation in the Colayo elementary school.

The girl on the right is also named Carlin. While very keen to have her picture taken, totally horrified at the concept of taking a picture with me.

Colayo community members learning about cooperatives.

Friday: We again started the day with an early breakfast
with community members. We then hiked down to the river to inspect the power
source for the community. I had noticed on the way in there was no grid, but
there was electric lighting. It turns out the community runs on Micro-micro
hydropower. Households grouped together in bunches of 5-30 and bought
generators that they hooked up to homemade water wheels. The design came from a
Fillipino miner who wanted to find a way to listen to his radio while working
at the mines. The investment is eco-friendly and requires a one time investment
of 10,00 pesos (about 225 USD). The micro generators provide enough voltage for
electric lights but not quite enough for appliances. After this we make a
social call to the local political leaders. They showed us around the copper
mine and treated us for lunch. Before we could hike out, our hosts gave me a
set of water buffalo horns as a birthday gift. These were then strapped to my
back as we hiked back out, found the motorcycles and proceeded back down the
road to Bihog where a rainstorm stopped us and we hunkered down for the night
at Padi John’s place.

The water wheel that provides electric lighting to 32 households.

I'm a happy carabao. I got water buffalo horns for my birthday as well as the joy of hiking them out of the community.

Saturday: My co-worker and I set off early back down the
road towards Ag-agama. This time we stopped and inspected at church building in
the sitio of Latawag. We also held a community meeting to introduce the people
to vision 2018 of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines that says, “By the
year 2018, we envision a dynamic and vibrant church of caring, witnessing, and
mission-oriented communities.” A major aspect of this is creating self-reliant
parishes that are able to support not only themselves, but also engage in
social ministry and community development. We then were gifted with fruit and
soft brooms, which we loaded onto the motorcycle and headed to the main town of
Lubaugan to visit a weaving enterprise. Unfortunately, we got stuck before we
could reach town by the arrival in the mountains of a typhoon. The rain had us
seek shelter at the closest community. This happened to be a recreation of a
traditional Kalinga village used for indigenous arts and culture events. We
spent the night with no electricity in wooden huts constructed without a single
nail. I even experienced my first earthquake in the middle of the night. I have
to admit, I was completely terrified. Luckily, it was quite minor.

Recreation of a traditional Kalinga village where we waited out the typhoon.Sunday: Finally on Sunday,
two days behind “schedule” due to weather, we loaded up on the motor for the
last time and headed to Lubuagan. We met with the head of the Mabilong Women’s
Weaving Association and arranged payments for the products E-CARE is marketing.
Then we set off towards home in Tabuk. Just when the end of a long week was in
sight, we had an irreparable flat tire on the back of the motor. This saw me,
my horns, my fruit, and my brooms loaded onto a jeepney, a public bus of sorts,
and taken the long way back to Tabuk. Meanwhile, my co-worker rode on the flat
to the nearest shop to have it replaced. Once home, I fell immediately to sleep
and prepared for work again the following day

About Me

My name is Carlin Van Schaik and I will be spending this year serving as a missionary through the Young Adult Service Corps of this Episcopal Church. I work in Tabuk, Kalinga in the Northern Philippines with the E-Care Foundation.
In this capacity I hope the experience the sentiment of St. Augustine. When many people are brought together, through God, to share their varied and personal experience that the joy of all is greater. I look forward to offering my warmth to others as well as learning and growing with the guidance of those I meet.